That second half performance

[ElDiablo]

That only happened because we were so deep so there were no options when we won the ball back. There's no way Kinnear would tell them to go out and start lumping it after the first half display. The hoofing was a knock on effect of being too deep as a team.

[NG32]

That only happened because we were so deep so there were no options when we won the ball back. There's no way Kinnear would tell them to go out and start lumping it after the first half display. The hoofing was a knock on effect of being too deep as a team.

 

We did it in the second half against Sunderland.

 

Its now happened twice.

 

 

[Dave]

Of course the three points are the single most important thing, but don't forget what difference confidence makes to our players. We know on paper they're good enough to avoid relegation, but they need more belief.

 

West Brom were there for the taking and finishing that game tonight 3-0 or better would have done wonders for the team. As things stand we scraped a win, and they'll all know how easily they could have f***ed it up.

 

on paper good enough to avoid relegation? what paper is that,... its bollox, playing like that relegation is a real possibility.

 

I agree with you mate. Just saying they can do MUCH better than that, and beating a team convincingly would have been much better for their confidence going forward.

 

I've no idea why we sat off so much, no idea at all.

[Mowen]

I think (and hope) that it was the lack of belief that we could actually win a match that contributed to this performance. Hopefully holding out will help the players psychologically. Also, we looked fucking knackered, Barton was superb first half and faded badly, similar goes for Jonas and Shola.

[Incognito]

Anyone think we can beat Villa?I think with their pace,we could get tonked big time.

[Guest Heneage]

Of course the three points are the single most important thing, but don't forget what difference confidence makes to our players. We know on paper they're good enough to avoid relegation, but they need more belief.

 

West Brom were there for the taking and finishing that game tonight 3-0 or better would have done wonders for the team. As things stand we scraped a win, and they'll all know how easily they could have f***ed it up.

 

on paper good enough to avoid relegation? what paper is that,... its bollox, playing like that relegation is a real possibility.

 

I agree with you mate. Just saying they can do MUCH better than that, and beating a team convincingly would have been much better for their confidence going forward.

 

I've no idea why we sat off so much, no idea at all.

 

You have to think that as poor as we appeared tonight. We've had things go against us ala the Beye red-card injuries, with luck improving and the teams around us doing poorly we should be ok. You can't start tomorrow today chuffed with 3 points lets see what happens tomorrow.

[TRon]

That only happened because we were so deep so there were no options when we won the ball back. There's no way Kinnear would tell them to go out and start lumping it after the first half display. The hoofing was a knock on effect of being too deep as a team.

 

I don't know why everyone is saying we were hoofing the ball upfield. Given kicked the ball out a lot, but a lot of the long balls were often precise passes to forwards on the break, most of which were wasted due to bad final balls or sloppy finishing.

 

You would have to question why we didn't push up more at 2-0 in the second half.

[Yorkie]

Anyone think we can beat Villa?I think with their pace,we could get tonked big time.

If the tactics are as they were in the second half, ie - "give ball to opposition" - then yeah, we'll get absolutely annihilated. They've just hammered a good Wigan side on their home turf, they can do exactly the same to us.

 

If we take the game to em, and maybe tigthen up a bit in the centre of the park (Steven Taylor), then there's every chance we'll win. We were excellent in the first half, i reckon we'd have been in the lead against a lot of teams at half-time playing like that.

 

Using our quality players to their strenghts = success. We did that in the first half. We were pretty dynamic.

[Karjala]

Typicle Nufc.

 

2-0 up, lets sit back on it, lets concede a goal, let them back into it and fuckin shite ourselves for the last half hour.

 

We never fail.

[Chris_R]

 

We weren't in the relegation zone for no reason.

 

Yeah, we've had half our best players out for ages. Beye, Jonas, Owen, Martins & Barton.

 

If all of them had been fully fit for the last 7 games, we'd be a damned sight higher up the table than we are.

 

Or, you know, we're not very good.

?...The point is we've been missing a hell of alot of important players at the same. Even last year we were good when we had our best players available. It's just a shame that we can never seem to put the best team out.

 

I think though that goes back to our woeful lack of strength in depth. We've got a decent enough first team, but as soon as we get any injuries we're screwed.

[Jaypee]

The second half really was awful. Of course it's important to get the 3 points, but surely it would help the team a lot more if we had gone out and won it with style. Defending isn't our thing and WBA were very close to getting level. If we can continue playing like we did in the first half today, I don't think relegation will be an issue much longer.

[Neil]

As I say, be grateful your lot can hold onto a 2-0 lead against a struggling side. Not as easy as it sounds!

[Mick]

We were put on the back foot by a team who passed well but had nothing up front, I think I saw Kinnear once and he was telling our players to get back when we should have been putting West Brom under pressure.  The sub's came on too late and were puzzling to say the least, I'm not sure that I would have called any of them right before they happened.  If we attacked them the way we should have then 4 or 5 goals were possible, instead we did the same as we did against Man City and the mackems, we sat back and invited them onto us.  We were lucky that these were s*** up front, if it wasn't for that we would probably have lost.

[TRon]

Thought it was typical of Xisco's luck that he came on when we were playing absolute shit in the second half. We would have learned a lot more about him if he'd been playing the first half when there was some decent supply and willing runners around the penalty area.

[Neil]

Thought it was typical of Xisco's luck that he came on when we were playing absolute s*** in the second half. We would have learned a lot more about him if he'd been playing the first half when there was some decent supply and willing runners around the penalty area.

 

But don't you also learn a lot about players when the going gets tough? A fair few players are made to look good if the rest of the team are doing well.

[TRon]

We were put on the back foot by a team who passed well but had nothing up front, I think I saw Kinnear once and he was telling our players to get back when we should have been putting West Brom under pressure.  The sub's came on too late and were puzzling to say the least, I'm not sure that I would have called any of them right before they happened.  If we attacked them the way we should have then 4 or 5 goals were possible, instead we did the sale as we did against Man City and the mackems, we sat back and invited them onto us.  We were lucky that these were shit up front, if it wasn't for that we would probably have lost.

 

Kinnear has come on tv and said we shouldn't have sat back and pushed forward more. If he's saying one thing in the dressing room and another on tv it's a dead cert he will lose the players confidence. I can't believe he'd be that stupid but who knows?

[Tachikoma]

Thought it was typical of Xisco's luck that he came on when we were playing absolute s*** in the second half. We would have learned a lot more about him if he'd been playing the first half when there was some decent supply and willing runners around the penalty area.

 

But don't you also learn a lot about players when the going gets tough? A fair few players are made to look good if the rest of the team are doing well.

 

I think easing him into the game is a bit more important than constantly testing him in difficult situations. Its a new league for him after all.

[TRon]

Thought it was typical of Xisco's luck that he came on when we were playing absolute s*** in the second half. We would have learned a lot more about him if he'd been playing the first half when there was some decent supply and willing runners around the penalty area.

 

But don't you also learn a lot about players when the going gets tough? A fair few players are made to look good if the rest of the team are doing well.

 

Yes, but you can only judge them when you have seen them in both situations. Xisco has only played in crisis situations so far. I did notice that when he won a header he tried to direct it to another player, whereas Ameobi just jumped high and let it bounce of his head in whichever direction it chose.

[fredbob]

Thought it was typical of Xisco's luck that he came on when we were playing absolute s*** in the second half. We would have learned a lot more about him if he'd been playing the first half when there was some decent supply and willing runners around the penalty area.

 

But don't you also learn a lot about players when the going gets tough? A fair few players are made to look good if the rest of the team are doing well.

 

Pretty difficult for a striker to make a mark on the game when the teams under the cosh, not a very influential position in those sort of situations.

 

 

[Wullie]

Delighted with three points but the second half was far too nervy against a side like West Brom who, while neat and tidy at times, were ripped to shreds frequently in the first half.

 

I think it was the manager who told them to do this, even if he says not. Some of our time-wasting in the second half was ridiculous, particularly from Shay who is not typically a time wasting goalkeeper while some of our late set pieces embarrassed me a bit. The free kick wide on the right which was taken into the corner and the corner which had two of our players in the area and five on the half way line were so frustrating. Against Man Utd or in a big cup game, fine. Against West Brom at home, not on imo.

 

Barton and Guthrie absolutely ran the show first half. Second half, you could be forgiven for thinking they both went off at half time and I really didn't think it was them hiding but more being totally bypassed.

[Crumpy Gunt]

Was an absolute disgrace.

 

West Brom easily deserved a draw; we sat off them for the entire half and let them basically do what they wanted. Any side with a final ball (ie most in this league) would have stopped us getting the three points and probably gone on to win. They were there for the taking and after creating LOADS of chances first half we just surrendered all momentum.

 

I'm delighted with the three points, but the tactics and performances after the break tonight ought to be seriously questioned IMO.

 

Joe fucked up again.

[Rich]

Was going to start a similar thread. Second half was another abomination. Did we string 3 passes together at all?

 

Far too many long balls, players hiding, Ameobi winning fuck all... hard to watch.

[fredbob]

Delighted with three points but the second half was far too nervy against a side like West Brom who, while neat and tidy at times, were ripped to shreds frequently in the first half.

 

I think it was the manager who told them to do this, even if he says not. Some of our time-wasting in the second half was ridiculous, particularly from Shay who is not typically a time wasting goalkeeper while some of our late set pieces embarrassed me a bit. The free kick wide on the right which was taken into the corner and the corner which had two of our players in the area and five on the half way line were so frustrating. Against Man Utd or in a big cup game, fine. Against West Brom at home, not on imo.

 

Barton and Guthrie absolutely ran the show first half. Second half, you could be forgiven for thinking they both went off at half time and I really didn't think it was them hiding but more being totally bypassed.

 

Spot on, esepcially that last sentence. They looked excellent in the first half, Guthrie looked like a canny DM there seemed to be a decent understanding between those 2.

[fredbob]

Delighted with three points but the second half was far too nervy against a side like West Brom who, while neat and tidy at times, were ripped to shreds frequently in the first half.

 

I think it was the manager who told them to do this, even if he says not. Some of our time-wasting in the second half was ridiculous, particularly from Shay who is not typically a time wasting goalkeeper while some of our late set pieces embarrassed me a bit. The free kick wide on the right which was taken into the corner and the corner which had two of our players in the area and five on the half way line were so frustrating. Against Man Utd or in a big cup game, fine. Against West Brom at home, not on imo.

 

Barton and Guthrie absolutely ran the show first half. Second half, you could be forgiven for thinking they both went off at half time and I really didn't think it was them hiding but more being totally bypassed.

 

Spot on, esepcially that last sentence. They looked excellent in the first half, Guthrie looked like a canny DM there seemed to be a decent understanding between those 2.

[Mick]

Was going to start a similar thread. Second half was another abomination. Did we string 3 passes together at all?

 

Far too many long balls, players hiding, Ameobi winning f*** all... hard to watch.

 

Duff didn't help, for all of his running tonight, which to be fair he did, his impact on the game was nil on an attacking front and I'm sure he gave the ball away for the goal.